Forgive us for not feeling sorry for all of the work confronting Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot and his staff. While it may be a pain for Franchot and his workers to haul in all of that new money - it is nothing like the pain being felt by the average Marylander who is bearing the brunt of this financial fiasco.

The sales tax is being raised from 5 percent to 6 percent. People who have need certain computer services will be paying more in taxes. Cigarette taxes are being doubled. Some corporate taxes are being raised.

What's a comptroller to do? Actually, it is not Franchot's fault. He was a vocal opponent of both the special session and the new taxes.

Give credit where it is due. The new taxes were the brainchild of Gov. Martin O'Malley and designed to deal with a $1.6 billion shortfall the state is expected in the coming year.
Whatever happened to cutting jobs and services, rather than relying on tax increases to pay off most of the debt?

Marylanders living on low- or fixed-incomes will be hit hard by the sales tax. And businesses, already struggling with Maryland's penchant for taxing them, will feel the pain, too.
We can hardly wait until the 90-day regular session of the General Assembly gets under way in January. Who knows what the governor and lawmakers will cook up next?